Well, now that the Academy Awards are over, I can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that the best film won. Not the best film of the year, but of the two films being touted as the “frontrunners” for this year’s Best Picture award, the better film won.
Of course, Avatar fan boys are having a conniption fit trying to figure out why the Academy would stiff their masterpiece. The Hollywood Reporter ran a piece a few days ago ruminating over why Avatar lost Best Picture (as if the award was its to lose). It’s likely explanations included anti-Cameron bias (since apparently members of the Academy have picked up on the fact that he’s a boorish lout with a huge ego), preferential voting systems, and the Academy’s view of Avatar as “commerce,” with the implication being, I suppose, that Avatar was just too commercially successful. There’s very little in the article that suggests the actual reason The Hurt Locker came away with the grand prize. And that is: it was the superior movie.
Yeah, Avatar is commercially the most successful film of all time. Dollars don’t make a movie great though. They don’t even earn recognition for a film when it is great…just look at the Academy’s snub of The Dark Knight last year when its critical success surpassed most of the nominated films. But Avatar wasn’t The Dark Knight. It wasn’t even the Tim Burton Batman. It was a one trick pony, a film that achieved success solely on the basis of superior visuals. Such a film deserves to be recognized for it’s technical achievements, and it was. It even got best cinematography, which no film that relies so completely on blue screen technology deserves. But it wasn’t nominated in a single acting category, nor for its screenplay. That’s because neither the acting, the story, or the dialogue were worthy of critical acclaim, and those, as much as compelling visuals, are the essence of a quality film. Avatar isn’t a quality film. It’s a three hour video game cut scene, cinematic eye candy that has as much substance as a Paris Hilton biography.
It’s a bit disturbing to read the comment section of some of these articles. Some of them are doozies…people talking about the Hurt Locker will be forgotten in a week while Avatar will live on in the public mind for centuries. If so, it speaks volumes about the decay of society in general and American culture in particular. It’s time for a little bluntness. It is possible, however distasteful you may find a film or performance, to acknowledge it’s worth and merit while also acknowledging that you don’t care for it. I’ve conceded this in the past about films that I didn’t particularly care for but that I recognize have merit. Adaptation comes to mind…I didn’t like it, but I recognize why it was critically acclaimed. At the same time, I think it is possible to enjoy a film while admitting that it has little merit and is not that good. I enjoy the Fantastic Four films, but I freely admit that they aren’t good movies. Personal taste does not mean that the movie automatically has merit or lacks merit because you enjoyed it.
So it’s time for Avatar fanboys to admit that the movie sucked. And that anyone who truly believes, in their heart of hearts, that it was the best film of this year, that its plot, dialogue, and performances were enough to elevate the film to the top of the cinematic list, is out of their minds and an idiot. Its most notable achievement is letting studios know that audiences will shell out an extra $5 to see a movie in 3-D, so now we are being treated to a rash of 3-D films, from Alice in Wonderland, to Clash of the Titans, and probably the next Harry Potter film. Fans of Avatar continually try to compare it’s snub to the original Star Wars in 1977, but there simply is no comparison to be made here. Star Wars was groundbreaking in the way George Lucas was able to mix various elements together to make a compelling and intriguing story. That is nothing like Avatar, which does borrow from various stories, but in no way offers an original or compelling take on them.
If you liked Avatar, fine. I don’t understand why, but there is no accounting for taste. That said, if you are one of the many fanboys crying in your milk about Avatar being snubbed, just know that the rest of us are laughing at you.